Wisconsin/Michigan Part I

I wish that it was summer year round in Wisconsin/Michigan. I fell in love with both, but I'm pretty sure I'm just a no-good fair weather friend. We wanted to go visit our dear friends Ashley and Justin, and we thought while we were at it, why not go to Milwaukee first and take a ferry across Lake Michigan with our car? It was so fun to see a slice of Wisconsin. I think maybe my favorite part was the cheese. So much delicious cheese to try! I am so grateful that not only does Bobby understand my need to try new and delicious food while traveling, but that he also enjoys it too!

First we ate at this restaurant. We looked it up on Diners, Drive-in's and Dives. I ordered one of the items featured on the show- the duck tacos (I was afraid to order the mole)- and Bobby got something I thought would be rather boring: enchiladas. Best freaking enchiladas I have ever tasted. They were so amazing. I think I would enjoy watching him make that sauce and all the work that goes into it more than watching Jurassic Park, and that is one of my all-time favorite movies. Naturally.

They also served a peanut salsa, which Franny did not appreciate at all, but I thought was fantastic. It was funny- as we walked in, I caught a few people staring at our family and my pregnant belly, and actually heard one woman turn to her friend and say "she has a lot of kids."

That was our first Triple D experience and I'd say we'd definitely be up for another one.

Here's Claire being Claire in our hotel room. She is very entertaining.

One of the main attractions for Bobby in Michigan was the Harley Davidson museum. Me, not so much. But Sophie tagged along because admission is free. I took Franny and Claire to a children's museum that turned out to be fabulous. So fabulous that I felt a little bad that Sophie wasn't there with us, but I think she had a good time with her Dad.

One of my very favorite things we did was visit the Public Market in Wisconsin. In fact, we all loved it. So much that we went there twice in the mere 24 hours we were there. It is after all where we discovered Sprecher's root beer. It's only 4:30 in the morning when I started this post and my mouth is watering. I am craving all the delicious food we ate at the Public Market. I'd even go for that delicious Hungarian sausage we ate. Then I'd wash it down with the afore-mentioned Sprecher's root beer. Then some cheese... The Bellavitano raspberry cheese maybe... Sorry what was I saying? ;)

Then the time came for us to leave Milwaukee and board the ferry to Michigan. I was sad to go, but excited to see our friends. The girls loved it! Until we made it to Abbey and Hayden this was their favorite part of the whole vacation. Claire looks like an albino in this picture. There was plenty of empty seats so we moved around a lot. We also had to chase Claire around a whole lot. But nobody seemed to mind. It took me almost the whole ferry ride to get that kid to fall asleep in my arms. I think I fell asleep before she did.

We got to Ashley and Justin's in the middle of the night. We were so tired, but I couldn't help looking around at her gorgeous house! I love the way she decorates. I should have taken more pictures.

I can't remember what we did the first day we were there. I think we just hung out and played and let the girls get reacquainted. Plus we wanted some time to snuggle the newest addition to their family: Bennett. So sweet and adorable! Here's a picture of Claire (who would NOT leave him alone!) Lucky for me- she loves babies. (Maybe not so lucky for Mabel.)

I believe it was the second day we were there we went to Wyandotte to visit some of our friends from med school. First we went to see my friend Courtney and Sophie's friend Ryanne (and of course the beautiful Aleigha.) I'm so glad we did. Sophie had really missed Ryanne since she moved a few months before. After we left, she even told me she wants to move to Michigan because Ryanne is there. And I enjoyed visiting with Courtney.

Then we went to visit Jed and Erin, some of our very favorites from our first two years of med school. They had just returned from a trip out west at 2 AM that morning. So I was so glad we got to see them and their cute kids! I didn't get a great picture of the kids. Probably on account of the tantrum Claire threw while I was trying to take it.

Then we went to visit Paul and Melody. We were just excited to see them. Another couple of favorites from the med school days. We had no idea what kind of wonderful surprises they had in store for us: a sweet slide that Paul built in the basement, Frank's red hot chicken salad, Kasey Later, Paul's killer fish tank, one of Bobby's favorite mission companions!! Actually nobody had any idea about that coincidence. We walked into Melody and Paul's beautiful home, and all of the sudden we hear someone yell, "FIELDS!" It was Elder Christiansen! Such an amazing surprise. It's funny to me that Bobby looks like he is wearing scrubs in this picture. Hey Claire, would it kill you to sit still for a picture once in a while?

It was a perfect night.

And that seems like a good place to stop for now. Much more to say about the amazing time we had with some of the best people ever (Ashley and Justin), but I'm feeling like since I'm having a baby in a little over 48 hours, I better try and get another hour or two of sleep. So for now I'll leave you with this silly picture of Claire wearing a Star Wars helmet. Good night (or I guess I should say "good morning.")

Ashley's Roll Recipe

I had a request to post my roll recipe. I must confess, that everything I am as a roll maker is thanks in large part to my friend Ashley. She gave me this fabulous recipe, and taught me how to roll them up nice and pretty. I typed these instructions out to include in the cookbook I made for my sister when she got married.

Dinner Rolls

2 T yeast
1/3 cup sugar +1 T sugar
1 1/2 c warm milk
1/3 c butter flavored shortening (I just use butter)
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
6-7 c flour (it usually ends up being 5 1/2 cups for me)

Combine yeast, sugar, and 1/2 cup warm milk. Mix together with a fork. (You can warm the milk in the microwave. It should be about 110 degrees for the best results. I usually microwave 1/2 cup milk to mix with the yeast for 40 seconds.) The sugar will help the yeast to turn into a sponge. Once it looks kind of foamy and spongy- it's ready. This should take less than five minutes. In mixing bowl fitted with the dough hook, pour remaining sugar and milk, shortening (or butter), salt, eggs, and 2 cups of the flour, as well as the yeast mixture. Turn mixer onto low and mix until blended. Add two more cups of flour and mix again until blended. Add remaining flour half a cup at a time until the dough lightly sticks to the bottom of the bowl, or until you can handle it well. (You should be able to lightly touch the dough and it won't stick to your finger when it's ready.) Knead by hand (my favorite part!) for about a minute then place in a large, oiled bowl. (Pour a teaspoon of vegetable oil in the bottom of the bowl and swirl it around, then move the dough around so it is slightly oiled. This will prevent it from forming a crust.) Drape a kitchen towel over the bowl and let it rise until twice its size (about an hour and a half.) Divide the dough into 4 or 6 sections (4 if you want large rolls, 6 if you want small rolls.) Roll out each section into a long rectangle, about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick. Using your pizza cutter and starting from the middle of the end of the rectangle closest to you, slice the rectangle in half so that now you have two long rectangles. Now, starting from the point where you made the first slice, cut each rectangle into two triangles. Now you are ready to roll these babies into crescent shapes. Starting with the flat end of the triangle, roll the dough towards the tip. (Pictured on the left in case my instructions are impossible to understand.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Let your rolls rise about 45 minutes and bake for 15 minutes. (If you leave the dough in a warm place like on top of the stove or somewhere near the oven, it will rise faster.)

"Chimpanzabee"

We went to St. Louis last weekend to party with the Pace's. It was perfect as usual. We're hoping to squeeze one more weekend like this one in before they move to Michigan this summer. (Sob!) I have been working on a big post about it here and there this week but I'm afraid I'll never get it done, but I did make this video from our trip to the park Sunday afternoon. We made a delicious Irish dinner, which you can read about here and find recipes for here. While the food was cooking, Justin and Ashley took us to a Queeny park where the girls had a blast and Sophie pretty much cracked us up.

this kind of agility?

When Ashley called saying she might be able to come hang out for the weekend since J. was going to be out of town, I was practically hyper-ventilating with excitement. Bobby was in the room and in jest told me to play it cool. So as a joke I decided to dial it way down after my first super-spaz reaction, "I mean, that's cool I guess. I'm not sure if I'll even be here, but whatever."

I'm so glad they came. Here's some fun pics from the weekend.

Reading books to the girls.

Duh, blah blah blah, something something, Macarena! There's a lot of princess-lovers in this house.



One man's trash is another man's treasure. We played in photoshop while Ash was here. I taught her what I know and she taught me what she knows. She slept in here where the computer was and played with textures on a few pictures she took. Look what I found in my computer trash? I love how they're holding hands.


My favorite part of the weekend was getting time to spend this one. We had lots of great talks, played a LOT of sequence, watched Arrested Development, and planned our vacation with our husbands and Melody and Paul. We even got to drop our kids off at a free babysitting night and hang out with Jayne for a night.

Oh wait, maybe my favorite part of the weekend was mugging on this one:

Her cheeks are so delicious. Will someone give me a baby please? It would be great if I didn't have to be pregnant.

Hungry camels and frozen berries

Bobby and Justin had to fly out to Philadelphia this weekend for a test they had to take and so the girls and I thought we'd tag along so we could hang out with Ashley, Abbey, and Hayden for a fun-filled weekend. And that it was. I was so happy to finally get to see Hayden. What a sweet little baby!

The first morning we were there we went to see Grant's farm. Oh my gosh. It was so much fun. Jodie and Nora came along and Franny was so happy to see them! It was so hot. Like so hot that you think your face is going to melt off. Sophie was loving all the animals and Franny never really fully recovered from her brief encounter with the hungry goats we fed with a milk bottle. Poor Franny. :)

Then we found the camels. They were very sociable, standing right up at the gate and eating out of people's hands. He was looking right at Ashley and she saw a good photo opportunity so she asked Sophie and I to pose. Then, out of nowhere, the camel turns, opens his mouth and tries to eat our heads! It was crazy. Mind you, he has barely moved up until this point. Ashley took the picture at the perfect moment, simultaneously capturing me looking my best and the camel with his jaws wide open. It was hilarious!!

I left my stupid memory card at home so there were many photo ops missed by me. I wish I were posting tons of cute pictures of baby Hayden, that sweet little pixie Abbey, Franny and Nora on the train, Sophie's first time down a water slide by herself, and Franny's 100th time down a water slide by herself. (That day anyway.)

I did however have Ashley take a picture of a new dessert we tried. I saw this on the Barefoot Contessa a year or so ago and thought it might be fun to try.

Frozen Berries with Hot White Chocolate
adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home

2 half-pints fresh raspberries
2 half-pints fresh blueberries
1 cup heavy cream
10 oz good white chocolate, chopped (I actually just used ghiradelli chips, even though Ina says not to use chips)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Early in the day, spread the berries on a sheet pan in a single layer and place them in the freezer. (This prevents them from sticking together.) Once they're frozen, store them in a freezer bag.

Pour cream into a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and pour in white chocolate and vanilla. Give it 30 seconds or so to start melting the chocolate and then stir until all the chips are melted and you have a smooth sauce. (You can also heat all of the ingredients together in a double boiler.)

Place the frozen berries in one layer on dessert plates and allow them to sit at room temp for 10 minutes to defrost slightly. Pour the hot white chocolate evenly over the frozen berries and serve immediately.

It's like licking a nine-volt battery, but in a good way.

We partied in St. Louis last weekend with the Pace's and I've been so excited to report back on it to all of you. The highlight of the weekend had to be little Abbey Pace dropping the f-bomb every time she wanted a fork. Too funny! We had a jam-packed weekend filled with a trip to the zoo, the science center, Whole Foods Market, a few intense games of Sequence, Ashley's famous rolls, calzones, and poveriches, and late nights and afternoon naps.







The girls had a blast at the Science Center. This was our first time. They especially loved the bridge that connects the buildings over the freeway. I especially liked this picture of them watching the cars pass below:



Sunday night we played Sequence and Ashley and I basically annihilated Justin and Bobby. It was kind of sad to watch.

Right after this cute picture was taken we heard the sad news about President Hinckley's passing. What a legacy he leaves! I will miss him very much and feel very blessed and fortunate to have had him as our beloved prophet. I am happy that he is with his wife, though. He was so sweet about her. I remember right after she passed away, he gave a talk and talked about how when he met her he knew she was the "girl of his dreams." Then he said something like she was still the girl of his dreams all these years later. It was so sweet.


We also hit the zoo while we were there and that was fabulous, because the animals were actually moving around instead of just laying around in the blazing heat like usual when we're there in the summer. I wasn't sure what to expect in that cold weather. (But not too cold- thanks for the Christmas hats, Grandma!) Franny slept through half the visit due to only six hours of sleep the night before. It was crazy. But Sophie LOVED the whole visit- especially the hippos, the tiger, and the sea lions. My favorite was definitely the tiger. What makes a tiger so darn freaking sexy? It must be that seductive walk of theirs. It's like, "chicka bow chicka bow bow."

Some more fun pictures from our trip:


Notice the lions between our heads.

Sophie is a gorilla-lover, just like her Mom.

We were thrilled to see an okapi there. We have a Schleich okapi and we think they are so cool. They are the closest living relative to the giraffe and they were only discovered in 1901!

After we took care of some business we had down there, and made a trip to the mall (H&M has the bombest clothes for little kids), we got in the car and headed home.

I snapped these two shots when I saw how cute Franny looked sleeping in this position. I thought I might as well snap one of Sophie even though it was so dark I couldn't see what she looked like. Here's what I got. What a poser. She's our little party animal. I used to love road trips as a kid. Julia and I used to have the best times in the back of the car and my parents played great music. We only ever went to Utah so it was always just about 12 hours. And I could read my books in the car! Laying down! In the backseat! I can make myself sick writing a greeting card in a moving vehicle, let alone trying to read a book!


Explanation of my post's title: We went to Whole Foods and I was asking for some cheese recommendations from one of their employees. He was telling me about these English cheddars and used this simile to describe it. It struck me as funny.